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Indoor success for high school rowers

THE exceptional team at Queen Elizabeth High School brought home 30 medals from the annual Northumberland Indoor Rowing Championships.

Members of the Queen Elizabeth High School team who dominated the county indoor rowing championships hosted by the Cambois Rowing Club.

The Hexham pupils dominated the county event, held at Cambois Rowing Club, with Haydon Bridge High also impressing throughout the championships.

Almost 300 competitors from middle and high schools across Northumberland attended, yet many could not compete with the might of QEHS.

Last year, the current Year 10 girls dominated the field by gaining the first four places and they repeated that fantastic achievement.

Milly Dickinson took gold, Amy Bowman ended with silver, Lucy Ryan claimed bronze, and Harriet Aubrook was in fourth place. A first outing for the Year 9 pupils proved successful too, as QE dominated both the boys’ and girls’ competitions.

Luke Hodgson and Sophie Lynch both finished just outside the medal places.

The Year 10 boys were faced with the largest opposition of the day but Sam Richardson and Daniel Armstrong performed outstandingly to gain gold and bronze respectively.

Academic pressure had reduced the numbers of older QEHS students competing but the club still managed medals, Year 11 Jordan Henderson and Daniel Burn taking gold and silver in their event.

Gold was also the colour of the medals picked up in the team events, two girls and two boys combining to row a 2000m relay.

Previous winners were joined by Matthew Walton (Year 9), Matt Robertson (Year 13), Marie McLoughlin and Nicola Charlton (Year 12) as QEHS continued to show their dominance by winning the Year 9, Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12/13 events.

Meanwhile, Year 8 pupil Bethany Hickling was the only QE representative at that age group and, despite it being her first competitive experience, she came away with a silver.

QE boys’ captain Tom Nixon (Year 12) had a tremendous battle against Haydon Bridge High School’s Toby Robinson, but lost out to the talented Ninebanks rower.

There were other successes for Haydon Bridge, Robert Simpson picking up silver in Year 9 boys, while Charlotte Thompson and Lucy Oliver were second and third respectively in Year 11 girls.

Alex Hurst picked up the only medal for Prudhoe High School, finishing third in Year 11 boys.

Up-and-coming rowing star Bridget Stratford, a pupil at Ponteland High School, helped herself to gold in the Year 12/13 girls category.

Ponteland’s Richard Coates Middle School also produced county champions in Beth Doyle and Jake Jensen (Year 8), and Lucy Fraser (Year 7). School mate Lewis Spark was third in Year 7 boys.